Bleach agent dispenser system for washing machines



Nov. 27, 1962 J. BOCHAN 3,065,522

BLEACH AGENT DISPENSER SYSTEM FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Aug. '7, 1961 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Ll O o 27 J O o Z6 Z S 0 Z INVENTOR.

D'OHN BOG-HAN Hls ATTORNEY J. BOCHAN Nov. 27, 1962 BLEACH AGENTDISPENSER SYSTEM FOR WASHING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 7,1961 iii INVHVTOR. J'OHN BOCHAN BY M 40 ms ATTORNEY 3,065,622 BLEACHAGENT DISPENSER SYTEM FUR WAdl-HNG MACHINES John Eochan, Louisville,Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkFiled Aug. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 129,614 5 Claims. (Ci. 68-207) Thisinvention relates to automatic clothes washing machines, and moreparticularly to such machines where it is intended that a liquid bleachbe automatically added to the washing liquid at the proper time in thewashing cycle.

Automatic washing machines customarily proceed through a sequence ofoperations in order to wash, rinse and dry the clothes. The sequenceordinarily includes a washing operation, one or more rinsing operations,and a final extraction operation in which the rinse water is removedfrom the clothes. Where the machine is of the combination waher-dryertype, the extraction operation may then be followed by a heat dryingoperation. Of course, depending upon the particular machine, variationson the above basic sequence may be provided, but the general sequence ofwashing, rinsing and extracting is used in almost all automatic washingmachines.

As automatic washing machines have become more perfected, they haveautomatically performed an increasing number of functions whichpreviously had to be performed manually. For instance, suitabledispensers for detergents, water softeners, and fabric softeners may beprovided. In addition to these, it will readily occur that a suitableliquid bleach or bleaching agent is among the more important additivesrequired by many operators for a large part of their operations. Animportant point as to the dispensing of liquid bleach into the washingliquid is that, if the bleach is introdced into the liquid at the verybeginning of the cycle (that is, at about the same time as thedetergent), the bleach has a tendency to counteract the beneficialwhitening effect which is provided by many modern detergents in the formof a fiuo rescent or optical dye; when this occurs, the full opticalbrightening effect of the detergent is not achieved. It has beendetermined that, where clothes are being washed during the introductionof the wash water, the optical dye in the detergent can complete itsaction on the clothes by the time all the needed wash water has entered,and the bleach is then free to treat clothes without interfering withthis action. This result of this approach has been shown in thelaboratory to be visibly better than where bleach and detergent are bothintroduced at the beginning of the washing operation.

Thus, a highly desirable washing machine structure is one wherein thebleach, although introduced into the machine prior to the start of thewashing cycle, is held in readiness throughout the initial part of thewashing operation so that virtually all of it remains outside the basketin which the clothes are being washer, and then contacts the clothes.

It is consequently an object of my invention to provide an improvedwashing machine wherein bleach dispensing means are provided to dispensethe bleach into contact with the clothes in response to the shutting offof the inlet supply of washing liquid.

A further more specific object of my invention is to provide a bleachdispenser in which the bleach is contained in a recirculation systemwhich is dependent for operation upon the stopping of the inlet water,the recirculation then causing the bleach to enter into contact with theclothes.

In one aspect of my invention I provide a conventional Washing machineof the type wherein a liquid receptacle, with an opening in the side andan opening in the hot- 3,0fi5fi22 Patented Nov. 27, 1962 tom, has withinit means for washing clothes. The machine is of the type wherein theagitation of the clothes starts at the very beginning of the cycleduring the introduction of water from supply means; this approach isgenerally used in machines wherein the clothes agitation is obtained byuse of a perforated drum rotating within the liquid receptacle on anon-vertical axis. The water is supplied through a supply conduit whichhas an outlet positioned to discharge into the receptacle through theside opening, the flow of water to the supply conduit being controlledby suitable inlet valve means.

In order to provide liquid bleaching agent at the right time, a bleachfill conduit is arranged with an open top end arranged to receivebleach, and with a bottom portion connected to the bottom opening of thereceptacle. The bottom portion is further formed to contain suflicientbleach for a washing operation below the level of the second opening,that is, without having it overflow up into the receptacle. The sideopening is connected to an intermediate part of the bleach fill conduitby a recirculation conduit, and the level of liquid reached in thereceptacle during washing is suitably controlled so that it reaches upadjacent but below the side opening.

The side opening is so arranged that a substantial amount of liquid canpass through the recirculation con duit from the receptacle into thebleach fill conduit when the aforementioned liquid level is present andthe agitating means is operated so as to create turbulent movement ofthe water. However, this fiow through the recirculation conduit isprevented during the initial supply of water because the supply means ifformed to provide a sufiicient velocity head of Water entering thereceptacle through the side opening to prevent entrance of liquid intothe recirculation conduit from the receptacle. The recirculation isnecessary to introduce the major part of the bleach from the bottomportion where it is contained up into the receptacle, and because thisrecirculation can start only as a result of the completion of the actionof the water introducing means, a delay is thereby provided before theintroduction of any substantial part of the bleach.

The feature of the invention which are believed to be novel are setforth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself,however, both as to organ ization and as to method of operation,together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best beunderstood by reference to the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a washingmachine incorporating my invention, partially in section and withcertain surfaces broken away to show details; and

FIGURE 2 is a rear view of the machine of FIGURE 1, with the rear panelremoved and with certain surfaces broken away to illustrate furtherdetails.

Referring now to both figures, I have shown my invention in one form asapplied to a domestic laundry machine. The operating elements of themachine are included within an outer cabinet structure 1 which issupported on a base and toe board assembly 2. The cabinet 1 includes atop surface 3 on which is mounted by any suitable means, such as forinstance posts 4, a backsplash portion 5 designed to contain the usualcontrol mechanism (not shown) for the machine. A suitable manuallyoperated member 6 may conventionally extend from backsplash portion 5 sothat the operator may select and desired sequence of operations. Accessto the interior of the machine is provided by a door 7 which may bemounted on the front panel 8 of cabinet 1 by concealed hinges and openedby any suitable means (not shown).

conventionally, when a load of soiled clothes is placed within themachine, the control mechanism is used to aoeaese cause the machine toproceed through an appropriate sequence of operations. Typically, thesequence starts with concurrent introduction of water and tumbling ofthe clothes, the water being shut off at the appropriate level and thetumbling continuing. Then the water is drained to end the initial washstep, and one or more rinses and drains are provided, followed finallyby a damp drying or liquid extraction operation.

As shown in the figures, the machine is of the nonvertical axis type(more specifically, horizontal in the present case) where a cylindricalclothes basket or drum 9 is mounted for rotation on a generallyhorizontal axis within an outer enclosing tub structure 10 which, aswill be more fully set forth below, serves as a liquid receptacle.Preferably, for a purpose to be explained below, the rotation of basket9 is clockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 2 and shown by the arrow therein.The basket 9 has a cylindrical shell or outer wall 11 with perforations12 formed therein. The basket is closed at its rear by means of asuitable wall 13 (which may be of double thickness, as shown, forstructural strength), and has a front wall (not shown), provided in theusual manner with an excess or loading opening. The basket is rotatablysupported by a shaft 14 secured to rear wall 13 and mounted in asuitable bearing 15 supported between two spaced wall portions 16 and T7of the tub l0. Tub 10 is conventionally provided in the front wallthereof with an opening (not shown) which is arranged relative to door 7so that clothes may be placed into or removed from the basket and sothat the door seals the opening during operation of the machine. Tub It)thus forms a container for liquid during the treatment of clothes, andthe basket 9 forms both a container for the clothes, and, by virtue ofinwardly extending vanes or ribs 18 formed therein, a means of tumblingclothes within tub 10.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 2, during the operation of themachine the basket 9 is driven from an electric motor 19. The drive fromthe motor to the basket includes a pulley 24 which is secured to themotor shaft so as to rotate therewith and over which passes a belt 21.Belt 21 drives an adjustable sheave assembly 22 of the type which iswell known for use in achieving variable output speeds from a constantinput speed source. The adjustable sheave assembly in turn operates abelt 23 to cause rotation of pulleys 24 and 25. The rotation of pulley25 is passed on through a belt 26 to a pulley 27 which is secured on theend of basket shaft 14. In this manner, the motor 1? may be driven at aconstant speed, and through the adjustable sheave assembly 22, the speedimparted to pulley 27 and basket 9/ may be varied so as to provide anappropriate range of speeds for the basket. For instance, for tumblingpurposes during washing and rinsing operations, the basket may berotated at a speed of approximately 47 rpm, while a centrifuging speedof several hundred r.p.m. may be provided to the basket for effectingcentrifugal extraction of the liquid from the clothes subsequent to thecompletion of the washing and rinsing operations.

The operation of the variable speed drive briefly described above doesnot form any part of the present invention, and is merely set forth isprovide a substantially complete description of an operative machine. Acomplete detailed description of such a drive is provided, for instance,in Patent 2,950,613 issued to me on August 30, 1960, and assigned to theGeneral Electric Company, assignee of the present invention.

Means whereby water is admitted to tub 19 during washing and rinsingoperations of the machine include connections 28 and 29 through whichhot and cold Water is supplied from a suitable source to the machine forthe washing and rinsing operations. A valve controlled by a solenoid 30permits passage of hot water when the solenoid is energized, and a valvecontrolled by an opposed solenoid 31 permits passage of cold water whenthe solenoid is energized. The hot and cold water valves under thecontrol of the solenoids 3t) and 31-discharge through a common conduit32 and a suitable air gap into a funnel 33 positioned below the outletof conduit 32. Funnel 33 leads into a downwardly extending supplyconduit 34 terminating at its lower end in an outlet 35 so that waterflowing through the conduit 34 passes out through outlet 35 and then, byvirtue of its velocity head, through a side opening 36 formed in tub 10.It will readily be understood that conduit 34 may be so designed thatthe velocity of the water coming out of outlet 35 is sufiicient to causevirtually all of it to pass through the opening 36 into the tub 10.

A conventional pressure actuated sensing device 37 is provided incontrolling relationship to both solenoids 3t) and 31, it beingunderstood that the circuitry for effecting this control purpose isconventional and is not further described herein. Sensing device 37 isconnected to the interior of tub lit) by a suitable line 38 whichconnects with the tub almost at the bottom thereof at 39 as shown. Byvirtue of the air trapped in line 38, the device 37 is sensitive toincreases in the liquid level within tub 10, and is so formed as to shutoff the flow of water by de-energizing solenoids 30 and 31 when theliquid reaches up to a level which is below but adjacent opening 36. Inthis connection, an appropriate level is shown by the line A in FIGURE2. It will be noted that, while the level A is below the opening 36,rotation of basket 9 to tumble clothes in the washer will cause a degreeof turbulence in the water which causes it to splash up in substantialquantities into opening 36; this is particularly true where, as in thepresent case, basket 9 rotates up toward opening 36. It will further benoted that, although this tubulence is occurring during filling of themachine because of the basket rotation, the inlet velocity of the watercoming through opening 36 from outlet 35 of conduit 34 is sufiicient toprevent any liquid from passing out of tub 10 through opening 36. Thus,while a substantial quantity of water can pass out of tub Ill throughopening 36 during regular tumbling rotation of basket 9 after the waterhas finished entering, substantially no water will splash out throughopening 36 during the filling operation.

Vitiated water from washing operations is discharged from the machinethrough an opening 40 formed at the bottom of tub 10. A suitable conduitportion 41 leads from opening 40 to the inlet of a pump 42 (FIGURE 1)which may, as shown, be driven from the motor 19 through a clutch 43controlled by a solenoid 44, the solenoid operating in the conventionalway so that when energized it causes the clutch to connect the motor tothe pump in driving relationship, and when the solenoid is not energizedthe pump is not operated by the motor. Thus, when draining is desiredafter washing and rinsing operations, solenoid 44 is energized, and pump42 consequently draws water through the conduit portion 41 and passes itout through a conduit 45 to a suitable drain (not shown).

In order to receive a suitable quantity of liquid bleach to be usedduring a washing operation, I provide a bleach fill conduit 46 whichmay, for convenience, be provided with .an enlarged upper end 47' havingan opening 48 and a spout 49 accessible to an operator at the front ofthe machine. It is intended that the operator pour through spout 49 aquantity of bleach which is desired to be introduced for the washingoperation to follow. The bleach thus introduced flows down a verticalportion 50 of the conduit 46 and then enters the conduit portion 41which in effect forms the lower part of the conduit 46. The conduitportion 41 has sufiicient internal volume so that it is capable ofcontaining any amount of liquid bleach which will normally be introducedin connection with a single washing operation without having the bleachrise up to the level of the opening 40.

Intermediate its ends, the vertical portion 50 of conduit 46 isconnected to the opening 36 by a recirculation conduit 51 which ispreferably formed as shown so that it slopes downwardly from opening 36to its junction with bleach fill conduit section 50. Supply conduit 34is formed entering the portion 52 of conduit 51 so that the discharge ofwater into the tub actually passes through a small part of therecirculation conduit and then through opening 36 into the tub.

As the liquid level in tube 10 rises during introduction of Water, therotation of basket 9 causes splashing of the water, and some of thewater will tend to splash through opening 36, as mentioned above, butthe velocity head of the supply water prevents this. As a result, nowater passes from opening 36 through the recirculation conduit to thebleach fill conduit during filling. Inasmuch as the bleach is in thebottom portion 41 of bleach fill conduit 46, the introduction of Waterinto tub 10 tends to keep the bleach down where it is and, while a verysmall amount of bleach may escape into the tub 10 and mix with the waterduring the fill operation, it will be so little as not to affectadversely the operation of the optical dye present in most detergents.In other words, if a detergent has been introduced prior to this part ofthe operation, by the time the filling operation terminates the opticaldye will have had time to take effect.

As soon as the fill operation terminates as a result of thede-energization of solenoids 30 and 31 by control 37 when level A isreached, the substantial turbulence and splashing which has beenpreviously mentioned will cause a substantial quantity of water to passthrough opening 36. This water then passes down recirculation conduit 52into bleach fill conduit 46; as more and more of this water accumulatesin conduit 46, it tends to move the bleach from its location withinportion 41 of the bleach fill conduit up through opening 40 and into thetub where the tumbling action of basket 9 will cause thorough mixing. Inother words, the cooperative action of the turbulence of the Water intub 10 and the velocity head of the water being introduced from thesupply source are utilized to prevent any force tending to introducebleach during introduction of supply water, and to provide a forcetending to introduce the bleach. Thereafter, as a result, the bleach isintroduced in response to the attain ment of liquid level A and thedesired bleaching action is obtained, suitable time having been providedfor the optical dying effect to take place.

It will be understood that at the end of the washing operation, asprovided for a suitable period of time, solenoid 44 is energized toconnect pump 42 to motor 19' so that the pump draws liquid throughopening 40 and conduit 41 to its inlet, and then passes the liquid outthrough conduit 45 to drain.

It will thus be seen that my invention provides a structure responsiveto the completion of the water introducing operation to introduce thebleach, the bleach being held substantially separate until this occurs.It will further be observed that this result is achieved without theneed for mechanically timed introduction of the bleach.

While in accordance with the patent statutes I have described what atpresent is considered to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, itwill be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications may be made therein without departing from the invention,and I therefore aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes andmodifications as fall Within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desrie to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. In a washing machine: a liquid receptacle having first and secondopenings formed respectively in the side and bottom thereof; means foragitating clothes in said receptacle; means for supplying water to saidreceptacle including a supply conduit having an outlet positioned todischarge into said receptacle through said first opening, and inletvalve means controlling the passage of Water into said supply conduit; ableach fill conduit having an open top end arranged to receive bleachand a bottom portion connected with said second opening, said bottomportion being formed to contain bleach for a Washing operation below thelevel of said second opening; a recirculation conduit connecting saidfirst opening to said bleach fill conduit intermediate the ends thereof;liquid level control means arranged to shut said valve means when theliquid in said receptacle rises to a level below and adjacent said firstopening; said side opening being arranged to permit a substantial amountof liquid to pass through said recirculation conduit into said bleachfill conduit when the liquid level controlled by said level controlmeans is present and said agitating means is operating; said supplymeans being formed to provide a sufficient velocity head of waterentering said first opening to prevent entrance of liquid into saidrecirculation conduit from said receptacle when water is entering fromsaid supply conduit.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said means for agitatingclothes comprises a substantially cylindrical basket member having aperforated outer Wall mounted for rotation within said receptacle on asubstantially non-vertical axis.

3. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said recirculation conduitslopes downwardly from said first opening to its junction with saidbleach fill conduit.

4. The apparatus defined in claim 2 wherein said means for agitatingclothes further comprises drive means for rotating said basket so thatits outer wall moves upwardly when passing by said first opening.

5. The apparatus defined in claim 1 including drain means for drainingsaid receptacle, said drain means also being connected to said secondopening, and means for controlling operation of said drain means.

References Qiteti in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS529,539 Welden Nov. 20, 1894 750,185 Grace Ian. 19, 1905 FOREIGN PATENTS213 Great Britain of 1910 970,610 France June 21, 1950

